1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to opening and closing mechanisms used in a range of electronic devices such as mobile phones and personal computers, and also relates to electronic devices using the opening and closing mechanisms.
2. Background Art
With electronic devices such as mobile phones and personal computers becoming increasingly diversified and adopting ever more advanced features, many products are adopting designs that allow the opening and closing of a movable housing against a fixed housing for allowing diverse operations. The opening and closing mechanisms used in these electronic devices are also required to be inexpensive, easy to use, and suited to diverse operations.
An electronic device using a conventional opening and closing mechanism is described next with reference to FIGS. 6A and 6B, mainly using the example of a mobile phone.
FIGS. 6A and 6B are perspective views of a conventional mobile phone. In the drawings, operating panel 2 including such as ten keys for inputting numbers and characters, and voice input section 3 such as a microphone are provided on the top face of fixed housing 1.
Movable housing 4 is placed on the top face of fixed housing 1. Operating panel 5 including such as the power key and phone key, display 6 such as a liquid crystal display device, and voice output section 7 such as a speaker are formed on the top face of movable housing 4.
The electronic device is configured by attaching opening and closing mechanism 8 between fixed housing 1 and movable housing 4 such that this opening and closing mechanism 8 holds movable housing 4 relative to fixed housing 1 in a vertically movable fashion.
In the above structure, as shown in FIG. 6A, the user can receive and view TV programs on display 6, or select the menu displayed on display 6 by using operating panel 5 in a state where movable housing 4 is overlaid on fixed housing 1, which is a closed state.
For making phone calls, movable housing 4 is moved upward, as shown in FIG. 6B, exposing operating panel 2 and voice input section 3; and the user makes a phone call by operating this operating panel 2 or talks through voice input section 3 and voice output section 7.
Other than the above opening and closing mechanism which vertically moves movable housing 4, there are opening and closing mechanisms which rotate movable housing 4 relative to fixed housing 1 for opening and closing, as shown in FIGS. 7A, 7B, and 7C. FIG. 7A shows a closed state. From this state, movable housing 4 is rotatable through 90 degrees (first turn), as shown in FIG. 7B to set display 2 in a horizontally elongated state. This is convenient for receiving and viewing TV programs or inputting numbers and characters by operating exposed operating panel 2 while looking at display 6.
However, for phone calls, it is necessary to further rotate (second turn) movable housing 4, as shown in FIG. 7C, to bring voice input section 3 and voice output section 7 to the positions of the mouth and ear. Accordingly, it takes time to respond to an unanticipated call when the mobile phone is being used in the state after the first turn (i.e., the horizontally elongated state).
One prior art arrangement is disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2003-110675.
In an electronic device using the above conventional opening and closing mechanism, the electronic device is opened or closed by moving or rotating movable housing 4 relative to fixed housing 1. Accordingly, multiple opening and closing mechanisms are needed for combined operations of movement and rotation in line with the growing diversification and adoption of more sophisticated features for devices. The structure thus becomes more complicated and expensive.